Re: Can't block caller ID in Massachusetts?

[Eric Murray <ericm@lne.com>]

David Mazieres writes:
> 
> My last phone bill said that Nynex is now giving out people's names in
> addidtion to their phone numbers over caller-id.  I therefore called
> Nynex and told them to block caller-id on my phone line.
> 
> They said no problem, but...  They said nothing I can do will block it
> when I call 800 numbers.  "The people with 800 numbers have special
> software, and there is nothing you can do to block your identity when
> calling them.  Not even *67."

Same in Pacific Bell land.  We get two options- "partial blocking"
which really means tht you have to use *67 to block CID to
non-800/900 numbers, and "complete blocking" which blocks CID
to non-800/900 numbers.

When I called the Pac Bell customer service droids to get my "complete"
blocking I asked them why they won't block CID to 800 numbers.
Their answer: "that's just the way it works". 


> Wow.  Maybe I'm not paranoid enough, but I never expected this.  I can
> never again call an 800 number anonymously to get information about
> something unless I go out to a pay phone.  What an incredible
> inconvenience, and how truly depressing.

Caller ID isn't for people, it's for businesses who want to
track callers.  They're willing to pay for that service, enough
to make it worth the while of the phone companies to spend many
millions on a campaign of lies (excuse me, "PR") to convince us
that we need CID for "safety".

 

-- 
Eric Murray  ericm@lne.com  ericm@motorcycle.com  http://www.lne.com/ericm
PGP keyid:E03F65E5 fingerprint:50 B0 A2 4C 7D 86 FC 03  92 E8 AC E6 7E 27 29 AF